1. Teachings for the New Jerusalem on the Lord

The Entire Sacred Scripture Is about the Lord, and the Lord Is the Word

WE read in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and nothing that was made came about without him. In him there was life, and that life was the light for humankind. And the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness did not grasp it. And the Word became flesh and lived among us; and we saw his glory, glory like that of the only-begotten child of the Father. He was full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-3, 5, 14)

In the same Gospel,

Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)

And elsewhere in the same Gospel,

While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of the light. I have come into the world as a light so that anyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness. (John 12:36, 46)

We can see from this that the Lord is God from eternity and that he himself is that Lord who was born into the world. It actually says that the Word was with God and that the Word was God, as well as that nothing that was made came about without him, and then that the Word became flesh and that they saw him.

There is little understanding in the church of what it means to call the Lord “the Word.” He is called the Word because the Word means divine truth or divine wisdom and the Lord is divine truth itself or divine wisdom itself. That is why he is also called the light that is said to have come into the world.

Since divine wisdom and divine love are one with each other and have been one in the Lord from eternity, it also says “in him there was life, and that life was the light for humankind.” The life is divine love, and the light is divine wisdom.

This oneness is what is meant by saying both that “in the beginning the Word was with God” and that “the Word was God.” “With God” is in God, since wisdom is in love and love is in wisdom. This is like the statement elsewhere in John, “Glorify me, Father, together with yourself, with the glory I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:5). “With yourself” is “in yourself.” This is why it adds “and the Word was God.” It says elsewhere that the Lord is in the Father and the Father is in him [John 14:10], and that the Father and he are one [John 10:30].

Since the Word is the divine wisdom of the divine love, it follows that it is Jehovah himself and therefore the Lord, the one by whom all things were made that were made, since everything was created out of divine love by means of divine wisdom.

2718. A wife out of the land of Egypt. That this signifies the affection of memory-knowledges belonging to the man of the spiritual church is evident from the signification of a “wife,” as being affection or good (see n. 915, 2517); and from the signification of “Egypt” as being memory-knowledge (see n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462). In this verse the man of the spiritual church is described in regard to his quality as to good, that is, as to the essence of his life, namely, that the good that is with him is obscure, but is illuminated by the Lord’s Divine Human; from which illumination there comes forth in his rational the affection of truth, and in his natural the affection of memory-knowledges. The reason why the affection of good cannot come forth with the spiritual man such as it is with the celestial, but in place of it the affection of truth, is that the good which is in him is implanted in his intellectual part and is comparatively obscure (as was shown, n. 2715), from which no other affection can be produced and derived in his rational than the affection of truth, and thereby in his natural the affection of memory-knowledges. By truth here no other truth is meant than such as he believes to be true, though it be not true in itself; and by memory-knowledges are not meant such as the learned have, but everything of knowledge with which one can be imbued from experience and by hearing, from civic life, from doctrine, and from the Word. The man of the spiritual church is in the affection of such things.

[2] That it may be known what it is to be in the affection of truth, and what to be in the affection of good, we will briefly state that they who are in the affection of truth, think, search out, and discuss whether a thing be true, or whether it be so; and when they are confirmed that it is true, or that it is so, they think, search out, and discuss what it is, and thus stick fast at the first threshold; nor can they be admitted into wisdom until they are free from doubt. But they who are in the affection of good, from the good itself in which they are, know and perceive that the thing is so; and thus are not at the first threshold, but are in the inner chamber, being admitted into wisdom.

[3] Take as an example that it is celestial to think and act from the affection of good, or from good: They who are in the affection of truth discuss whether this be so, whether it be possible, and what it is; and so long as they are occupied with doubts about it they cannot be admitted; but they who are in the affection of good do not discuss, nor busy themselves with doubts, but affirm that it is so, and are therefore admitted; for they who are in the affection of good, that is, who are celestial, begin where they who are in the affection of truth, that is, who are spiritual, stop; so that the furthest boundary of the latter is the first of the former. For this reason it is given to them to know, to recognize, and to perceive that there are innumerable affections of good (as many, in fact, as there are societies in heaven); and that they are all conjoined by the Lord into a heavenly form, so as to constitute as it were one man; and it is also given them to distinguish by perception the kind and variety of each affection.

[4] Or take this example: That all delight, blessedness, and happiness, are solely of love; and that such as the love is, such is the delight, the blessedness, and the happiness. The spiritual man keeps his natural mind fixed on the question whether it be so, and whether the happiness be not from some other source, as from social interaction, conversation, meditation, and learning, or from possessions and the honor, reputation, and glory of them; not confirming himself in the fact that these effect nothing, but only the affection of love such as there is in them. But the celestial man does not stick in these preliminaries, but affirms that it is so, and is therefore in the end itself and the use, that is, in the very affections of the love, which are innumerable, and in every one of which there are ineffable things-and this with variation of delight, blessedness, and happiness, to eternity.

[5] Take also as an example that the neighbor is to be loved for the good that is in him: They who are in the affection of truth, think, search out, and discuss whether this be true, or whether it be so; what the neighbor is, and what good is; nor do they go any further, and therefore they close to themselves the gate to wisdom; but they who are in the affection of good affirm that it is so, and therefore do not close that gate to themselves, but enter in, and know, and recognize, and perceive, from good, who is more the neighbor than another, also in what degree he is the neighbor, and that all are neighbors in different degrees; and thus they perceive ineffable things beyond those who are only in the affection of truth.

[6] Take further this example: That he who loves his neighbor for the good that is in him, loves the Lord. They who are in the affection of truth examine carefully whether it be so; and if they are told that he who loves his neighbor for the good that is in him, loves the good, and that-as all good is from the Lord and the Lord is in the good-when anyone loves good he also loves Him from whom it is and in which He is, they examine whether it be so; also what good is, and whether the Lord is in good more than in truth; and so long as they stick in such things they cannot see wisdom even at a distance. But they who are in the affection of good know from perception that it is so; and they immediately see the field of wisdom, leading even to the Lord.

[7] From all this we can see why they who are in the affection of truth (that is, the spiritual) have obscurity in comparison with those who are in the affection of good (that is, the celestial). Nevertheless the spiritual can come from obscurity into light, provided they are willing to be in the affirmative that all good is of love to the Lord and of charity toward the neighbor; and that love and charity are spiritual conjunction; and that all blessedness and happiness are from these; and thus that heavenly life is in the good of love from the Lord, but not in the truth of faith separate from it.